Welkom 2 Crockopolis
Continuing their quest to cure Quartle of the corruption caused by the fairy Erlina, the party has trudged deep into the Briarfen swamps where they have come across the recently constructed crocodilian city of Crockopolis. As they approach the wooden gates, small rocks are slung at them by a young crock in the guard tower, who warns them away. Gux says that the crocs are preparing for something called “The Big Welcome”, and that they are not allowed to enter. They ask further and Gux explains that in celebration of the crocodile’s defeat of their nemesis, the tiny hoppers, and the capture of the huge slimy one, they are expecting the arrival of Biggest-Best-Reptile King Tounac, to whom they will offer the newly acquired lands and sacrifices so that they may receive his blessing. Taking advantage of the young guard’s curiosity and naivety, the party convinces Gux to allow them in and take them to where the huge slimy one, Quartle, is being held. Gux agrees on the condition that none of his people are hurt. Past the walls, the party finds the city proper. A couple dozen huts made of reeds and pitch surround three large stone ziggurats. The largest and central ziggurat is still being constructed, and the party sees many crocs pushing huge stone blocks up wooden ramps and scaffolding towards the top of the tower. Gux says that Quartle is held within. Gux, and most of the party pull the ol’ prisoner routine to gain access through the main entrance, while Kodachi and Grub hang back and attempt to sneak in another entrance. A guard escorts the ‘prisoners’ to a row of cells deep in the tower, where a number of other prisoners are tied to stone slabs. Irving makes his move, eliminating the guard and freeing the other humans who he discovers are a squad of Glenrothian knights lead by a captain named Russ. The knights and Irving agree to work together to free the other prisoners held elsewhere in the tower, but Irving notices that Gux disappeared during the battle. Meanwhile, Kodachi and Grub try to make their way up the scaffolding on the side of the ziggurat. Unfortunately Kodachi is spotted, and a number of powerful croc guards with wicked looking bone swords give chase. Kodachi tries to make his escape while Grub distracts the guards in bird form but luck is not on his side; he is knocked flat by a croc and falls into an unfinished section of the tower, cracking his head on the side and falling unconscious. The guards pick up his body and drag him away, while Grub heads back into the tower to meet up with the rest of the party and find a way to get Kodachi back. The party and the knights make their way through the tower before arriving in the central room. Looking down from a stone catwalk near the ceiling, they see a large pool of water below. On a stone platform in the center of the room are a number of slabs stained with dried blood and Quartle himself, but he looks unwell. He is bloated to many times his regular size, and oozes with puss and slime. A bridge leads away from the central platform to the wall underneath the party to the entrance, where a huge carving of frilled lizard king Tounac dominates the wall. The statue has an open maw and broken and crumpled bodies in his hands, as if about to consume them. Water pours from the hands into the pool like the blood of his victims. A female croc flanked by two guards crosses the bridge towards the central platform. She carries a gnarled wooden staff and several live snakes slither over her body. A croc runs up to her and whispers: “The intruders are still in the tower my queen. They seek to steal Tounac’s prize.” The woman nods and passes the message on to one of her snakes, who drops to the ground and quickly slithers away towards the swamps beyond Crockoplis. Grub quickly gives chase in hawk form and is able to stop the snake before it delivers it’s message. Grub notices the snake was travelling towards the south, where she can hear and see what looks like a distant stampede kicking up a huge cloud of dust over the trees. Back in the temple, the croc queen orders her minions to begin the first round of sacrifices, and four humans are carried out to the slabs, one of which is the young Kodachi Kumatomi! The party leaps into action, with Conor, Liam and Dirk taking advantage of a chute they discovered that leads from the upper levels and through the statue of Tounac’s mouth to get the jump on the croc guards. Although relationships are strained with the Glenrothian knights and the party, Russ still wants to save the prisoners and leads his knights around the back side of the room to go straight for the crocs preparing to perform the sacrifice, while Bundly drops into the water below and floats his way towards Kodachi. The battle rages while Liam, Dirk and Connor go for the guards blocking the way, who put up a solid fight but are eventually overwhelmed. Connor charms a guard away but is noticed by the croc queen Atzi, who sends her snakes after her luckily Irving is able to leap to Connor’s defense in the nick of time. Dirk distracts the next group of warriors and manages to take advantage of a weakness in the statue’s construction to bury them in stone and water. Liam goes straight for Atzi who proves to be no slouch, blocking his blows and tripping him into the water. Atzi summons massive swarms of mosquitoes who descend on the party, biting , diseasing and draining blood. Luckily, Connor’s dispel magic is able to keep the swarms away from his immediate area, protecting his allies. Grub returns and attempts to wrest control of the swarms from Atzi, and though she succeeds in severing the shaman’s control she fails to gain control of them herself, and the swarms attack her relentlessly, barely holding on to life. Meanwhile, Bundly and the knights have made their way down the back side of the room and run towards the crocs performing the sacrificial ritual over the prisoners. Bundly fires his magical shoes, knocking one out and moving towards Kodachi but doesn’t make it in time - the croc brings his ceremonial knife down towards Kodachi but his knife meets stone instead of flesh, as Kodachi’s body seems to dissipate into a swarm of spiders that skitter away and disappear. Finally, Grub is able to gain full control over the mosquito swarms and sends them after Atzi, who quickly succumbs and collapses to the ground dead. Connor, Bundly and Grub get to work on the ritual to cure Quartle while Irving and Dirk head to the entrance of the room to blockade it against crocs coming from elsewhere in the temple. Team Ritual are working hard and focusing on the complex symbols and fail to notice Russ and his knights approaching them from behind: with a quick and efficient attack Grub falls to Glenrothian steel, Bundly is knocked within inches of his life and and Connor is seized by Russ. The knight decries the parties use of foul magics and worship of this devil-frog and declares they will rot in a prison in Carrick Mor. Connor escapes Russ’ grasp and turns invisible to try to escape. The knight doggedly pursues him, while destroying the chalk symbols of the magic circle Connor had drawn. Bundly manages to escape by making himself more-trouble-than-he’s-worth, while Dirk and Irving rush from the barricade at the far end of the room to face Russ. Russ proves to be a potent combatant but is eventually overwhelmed by the tornado of fists and blades that is Dirk and Irving. (Whirling Dirving style). They are finally able to successfully complete the ritual, and Quartle deflates to regular size while expelling a thick black smoke. The smoke coalesces and seems to have some sort of intelligence, seeking a new host, but the unbroken magic circle keeps it locked within where it eventually dies away. The crocs break through the barricade, the party grabs Quartle and quickly climbs to the top of the ziggurat and manage to escape into the swamps beyond Crockoplis...